


Always in Your Dream

by luminaccia



Category: EXO (Band), Lu Han - Fandom
Genre: Lots of confusion, M/M, Swearing, Violence, confused character, multiple character deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 18:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19183240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luminaccia/pseuds/luminaccia
Summary: Life is stupid. And very, very confusing. It's unfair too. Minseok wonders why it took him a few dreams of a weird guy and a magical place that is covered in things he hates to see that.





	Always in Your Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt Petal: #147
> 
> Author's Note: Firstly I want to thank the mods for being patient with me. This wasn't easy at all but I did it! If you think the ending falls flat, it's supposed to. I can go on and on about my reasons for why I wrote this the way I did and even though it could've been loads better and my original idea was way different, I can still say I kinda like it and I hope you do too!

  


_ “Minseokie! Wake up, you’re gonna have your handwriting printed on your face!” A cheerful voice reaches his ears, the owner of the said voice shaking his shoulder to wake him up. _

_ Minseok involuntarily rises up, groaning about being sleepy. He blinks and sees he fell asleep on his textbook while studying. There’s a guy looking at him, two glasses of lemonade in his hands. _

_ Minseok feels his heart warm at the sight of the guy, even though he doesn’t know him. It feels like they’ve been together forever and will keep being like that until the end of the time but it’s weird because he has no idea who this is. _

_ He speaks up, but he doesn’t know how he knows the guy’s name or why he is so familiar. _

_ “I’m gonna study even more so you can go now if you want, Luhan.” _

_ The guy, who is apparently named Luhan’s smile falters for a moment but it’s gone before Minseok can even blink. He drops onto the chair right opposite Minseok and puts his arms on the table, leaning on them and putting his chin in between, looking up at Minseok. _

_ “I’d rather sleep outside your house than go back to that place,” he says quietly. _

_ Minseok frowns, Luhan is too harsh on his father. But Luhan smiles again and tells him to resume his studying. So he resumes his studying. _

_ The only problem is, he can’t focus. _

_ Because Luhan is watching him. _

_ He tries not to think about it but feeling someone’s eyes on him, watching him like that makes him uncomfortable so he puts down his pen and raises his head to scold Luhan. _

_ Luhan has a very fond smile on his face, as if he’s completely enhanced by Minseok, eyes glued to him and their eyes meet once he raises his head. _

_ Minseok blushes from the intensity of the look he’s getting from the younger(?) boy and quickly cuts the eye contact, trying to look like he’s reading the text in front of him and clears his throat. _

_ “What’s wrong,” Luhan asks, there is something in the way he asks that stirs up Minseok’s insides. _

_ “Nothing. It’s just that… you’re looking at me and I can’t focus, just go home Luhan.” _

_ “But I like watching you…”  _

  
  


Minseok wakes up. The dream feels too real, he can remember every detail and that guy… Minseok doesn’t know who that is but it feels like there was a bond between them.

He shakes off these thoughts and looks down at his textbook again, it must be the extra-lovely description of the prince in the text he’s supposed to be studying on,  _ as if there’s anything to study,  _ Minseok scoffs.

"Achoo!" A sneeze.

"A-achoo!" Another sneeze.

He gets up from the chair he's sitting on and jogs back to his house angrily. He hates spring. He hates April especially. And most of all he hates flowers.

They make him sneeze, itch and have red marks on his face from allergy. But of course every year he has to stand it for at least two months because that's how Mother Nature works.

His mom hears him slam the door and yells instantly

"Kim Minseok! I told you to stay out of this house until the clean-up is finished! Go study elsewhere for God's sake and stay out of my feet."

Minseok groans and drags himself to the door, deciding to just wander around instead of studying. Who cares about stupid literature anyways? Prince, world of flowers, fairies blabla... It's not even real literature, just some piece of stupid shit their teacher is making them read. He's seventeen not seven, it's past the days where he read fairy tales. 

He walks along the neighborhood until he sees the big, bronze colored gate opening to a huge garden probably (obviously, what else?) full of colorful flowers and trees. The gate seems to be half-open and a cold breeze washes over on him from the inside, as if inviting him.

Now, Minseok hates gardens because the flowers there make him sneeze, itch and have red marks on his face from allergy. But for some reason, he gets the sudden urge to enter the garden, see the pretty flowers and smell them.  

He looks around. There's a playground right across the street and a kid is crying, his mother scolding him for running too much. Someone is trying to park their car on the opposite side, trying to fit into a small space between two other cars.

He takes a deep breath and pushes the gate open.

Something feels terribly wrong.

A bright, white light engulfs him and something flings him all over the place. The weird light space he's in feels like a tunnel, he feels like he's in Alice in Wonderland. His head is spinning and he's about to puke. His eyeballs feel like they're going to fall out from their sockets. There's a lot of wind.

Then he goes unconscious.

  
  
  


Minseok jumps awake suddenly, aware that something really weird happened and ready to believe it was just some nightmare.

Sadly, it's not. Because when he gets up, he finds himself in a world of grey and yellow, surrounded by flowers (most of them are dead).

He looks in wonder at the world around him. The grass is grey and the sky seems to be a sickly yellow color. There are lots of trees, bushes and flowers around him. Some dead, some barely alive.

He shudders when another breeze washes over him and turns around to get the hell out of this scary place.

But the gate is gone.

Frightened, he starts to run. He's always been a realistic person and he knows this isn't a dream. He doesn't know where he's running to but he's starting to freak out. Where the grass ends starts a white place, cloudy and dreamy. He turns around and runs there.

Another sudden wind ( _ Why is it so windy _ , Minseok asks to himself) blows him back, pushing him right on top of a big bush, knocking the air out of him.

Clearly, whatever dream he’s in isn’t ready to let him go.

He grunts uncomfortably, and opens his eyes only to meet two other pairs of eyes blinking at him.

All three of them scream at the same time, the two guys' screams louder than Minseok's. Finally, they all run out of air and stop.

The slightly shorter of the two gets up from where he's sitting and stands in front of the other protectively, looking scared but his actions brave.

"Who are you? Get away from us!"

The boy is quite pretty with sparkling green eyes ( _ How weird,  _ Minseok thinks sceptically), nice looking cheekbones and naturally curled lips. 

The boy he's standing in front of is also very pretty, he has (anormally) golden eyes, a cute mouth , droopy eyes but an expression of tiredness on his face.

Minseok raises his arms in an attempt to protect himself from the first boy's rising fists yet, the boy's punches are rather weak and he quickly gets tired, gasping as he sits back down. His friend crawls over to him in concern, pushing the boy's hair from his sweaty forehead after he reaches him.

"Chen! Are you okay?" he says while checking his temperature. He gasps after a moment, worried. The boy pushes his friend's hand away from his forehead and gets up again, muttering about how he's fine as he does.

They both glare at him, still thinking he's a threat.

"Look, I'm not a threat to you, I don't even know how I got here! I woke up and the gate was gone, alright?" Both Chen and his friend's eyebrows raise in confusion and interest at this. Minseok continues.

"I can help heal uh.. Chen, right? I can help you too, my father is a doctor and I know enough to help with fevers or colds if that’s your problem" 

Then he decides he should introduce himself too.

"I'm Kim Minseok by the way." he adds quietly.

Chen and the other boy look at each other for a few moments, having a silent conversation with their eyes and then Chen's friend steps forward to extend his hand to Minseok for a handshake. He smiles brightly and introduces himself.

"Hello mortal! My name is Baekhyun and this is J-uh.. Chen. We're faeries of plants of Primavera!"

Minseok freezes mid-handshake. 

"Y-you are what!" He ends the sentence in a higher pitch, making Chen chuckle silently.

"Faeries. Of Primavera." Baekhyun says again, slowly this time as if Minseok is dumb. Chen looks on, amused.

Minseok looks a little more carefully at the two boys, and indeed there is something inhuman about them.

Their skin glow a little brighter, their eyes are shining more magically than a human's would and they have colored transparent (fairy?) dust fluttering around their hands. 

"Wow...Faeries do exist..." Minseok mutters dazedly, not able to take his eyes off of the golden, glittery dust moving with the hand movements Baekhyun is doing.

"You find us incredible, huh,human?" Baekhyun asks with a teasing smile on his face. 

"You should see the Cherry Blossom Prince, he's even more amazing!"

Chen rolls his eyes at the last comment and addresses Minseok instead.

"Yeah, what's up with that,human? Your kind shouldn't be able to enter our world, what gate are you talking about?"

"Um-"

"Wait, Chen, he could be the one!"

"Uh-"

"Him? Never." Jongdae says, eyeing Minseok distastefully.

"Excuse me?!" Minseok asks, eyebrows furrowed.

Baekhyun glares at Chen. "What do you mean he can never be him? Obviously he is the one!"

"What 'one' are you two talking about!" Minseok exclaims angrily, making Chen and Baekhyun look at him in surprise as if just realizing he's here. " Stop talking as if I'm not here and please explain," he adds, calmer this time. He's also very confused about the flowers (the ones that are still alive) around him not making him sneeze but it isn't the time for that so he pushes those thoughts back into his mind.

Chen and Baekhyun look at each other for a few seconds, having another silent conversation.

_ They seem to be doing that a lot _ , Minseok thinks annoyedly.

Finally, the two faeries come to an agreement and turn to face Minseok again. Then they each take one of his arms and start dragging him somewhere but this isn't normal walking, or even running. They're so fast it feels like flying. It makes Minseok nauseous.

"Where are you taking me?!" Minseok yells in terror as they nearly fly across the forest.

"Don't worry, we're taking you to Chen's house, it's safe!" Baekhyun yells back, clearly liking the wind breezing on his face.

"Uh...Anywhere else isn't safe?" Minseok is, again, confused.

"We'll explain later!" Chen says this time and Minseok shuts up for the rest of the uncomfortable ride.

  


"So, are you going to explain?" 

Minseok is sitting on the comfortable armchair in Chen's house, it's a small house. The walls are made of wood and it feels very dark. There are two rooms and a bathroom including the living room which is merged with the small kitchen, Minseok guesses the other one is Chen's bedroom and wonders if Baekhyun ever slept in there from the way Baekhyun seems to be comfortable as if it's his own house.

Chen comes around from the kitchen counter, leaving his glass of water on there and taking a seat next to Baekhyun on the yellow couch. 

They look at each other as if trying to decide who should be the one explaining.

Baekhyun starts.

"You see, Primavera used to have a king and queen. Every living being in this world have a representative plant assigned to them once they're born, those plants are created when we are born and has to do with our fates-"

"So what plants are you guys?" Minseok asks curiously, interrupting Baekhyun who keeps still, annoyed and eyes closed.

Chen sneaks a glance at Baekhyun and turns towards Minseok.

"I represent green chrysanthemums while Baekhyun represents yellow tulips." He says quietly, urging Baekhyun to continue.

Baekhyun clears his throat and continues his story.

“Eighteen years ago, when the queen was pregnant with the Cherry Blossom Prince, a wise man prophesized that the unborn prince would be the strongest ruler of the Primavera Kingdom and he would have a mortal companion on his side he loves very much ‘till the end of time. The prince would take over his father before the king’s time would end and he would be loved more than anyone else in the kingdom,"

_ Wow. Nice. I don't even like Taylor Swift. This sounds like her kind of song doesn't it? _

"Something you must know is, the only ones that actually know the whole version of the prophecy is the people that lived in the castle, like me and Chen.

As you might guess, the king didn’t really appreciate the prophecy about his son and never gave him attention during his whole childhood. He is quite proud of himself and thinks he’s the strongest.

He could easily order the prince to be killed but that wouldn’t sit right with the citizens as they had already loved prince before he was even born.”

Chen cuts Baekhyun’s story.

“The prince was raised without anyone ever mentioning about the prophecy to him and he had everything except the love of his father. His mother, the queen shortly died after the prince turned seven years old, leaving him all alone.

Still, he was happy until a year ago, one day, the king had enough of all of it. He locked the doors of the castle and his men, armed with black magic from Inverno, started attacking people who were on the prince’s side. Which is about more than half the population I might add,” Chen said with a roll of his eyes, making Minseok wonder just which side he was on while Baekhyun sighed deeply.

“Now we’re here, hiding from the King’s men and trying to sa- ah!” 

Chen suddenly releases a gasp of pain and leans forward to clutch at his thin shirt, trying to breathe properly.

Both Minseok and Baekhyun rush to Chen’s side in alarm, Baekhyun puts a hand on Chen’s shoulder and asks him what’s wrong.

Chen stays still for a while, shirt still clutched in his left hand and eyes shut, then nods curtly to indicate that he’s okay and rises from where he was leaning forward. 

“So yeah,” He says after everyone sits down calmly again. “Any questions?”

Minseok ponders the story for a moment. Everything is bad and all, but how is Minseok supposed to fit in the story? Except for being the companion of prince, he can’t really see a reason why he’s here and since the prince is locked up there really isn’t a way he can do anything. He doesn’t want to be the prince’s sidekick either. This story also doesn’t explain the terrible state of the kingdom.

Also what kind of cheesy and stupid nickname is  _ “Cherry Blossom Prince” _ ?

He asks all these except the last one to the other two.

“Well, you heard that the prince would take his father’s place as the ruler early, with the companion by his side. With the way the things are going, I’m assuming you’d be able to save the prince so he can defeat his father and take his rightful place as the king.” Chen explains patiently.

Baekhyun pitches in.

“As for the state of the kingdom, like Chen said more than half of the kingdom love and support Prince Luhan more than his father. That’s why they were all attacked and poisoned, some of them dead. We’re barely hanging on so we really need your help to get back the prince!”

Luhan…

For some reason, the name is extremely familiar but Minseok can’t remember where he heard it before. He thinks Baekhyun or Chen might’ve mentioned it while telling the story but if only the name of the prince itself gives such a warm feeling in Minseok’s heart, Minseok can’t help but wonder what would happen when they meet…

Wait, meet?

“But… I have a family and school! I have entrance exams at the end of the month, I can’t help you.”

He jumps to his feet and goes over to the door leading  outside. Baekhyun gets up from where he’s sitting as well, Chen calmly stays where he was and watches the scene unfold.

“You have to help us! No one else knows of the prophecy, you’ll be able to enter everywhere without being seen suspicious because you’re a mortal, you’re the only one who can do it!”

Minseok shakes his head. It’s not even a prophecy.

“I’m sorry, I need to go.” He says as he opens the door, he needs time to think and find a way home.

“But-”

“Baek, let him be.” Chen calmly pulls Baekhyun back to the couch by his wrist. Minseok exits the house with an apologetic glance.

He roams the kingdom for hours, trying to find the same gate that threw him in this world. Finally, he loses all hope and lies down in front of a tree with pretty flowers.

Pretty cherry blossoms.

_ Weird, if the prince’s fate is tied with the cherry blossoms, then wouldn’t he die, or at least get sick after the season ends? _

He does more thinking, he really feels a bond with this prince they are talking about.

It can’t be a coincidence that their teacher gave them the story of ‘Mortal in Primavera’

It fits perfectly.

Minseok suddenly gets brave. He can do it all, and he will save the prince. That seems to be the only way out anyways.

He rushes back to Chen’s house, he knows they know he would come back.

Just as he thought, the duo isn’t surprised to see Minseok again and set out for their journey. It’s a big kingdom, and it’s hard to walk around freely without being spotted by the King’s Men so they leave the village and use the forest instead.

They reach a clearing that’s still pretty healthy around night time after they walk for two hours, and decide to eat then sleep.

Minseok has a dream, and it feels too real to the point that he’s sure this is something that’s happening right now, as they sleep. But he can’t wake up and has to watch everything.

It’s a dark, small room. There’s lots of men in dark clothing, masks hiding their faces. They are gathered around someone on the ground, Minseok sees a red liquid coming from the person’s side.

One of the men steps on the person’s shoulder, making him gasp in pain. Another one pulls out a dagger from his belt and points it at the person’s neck in a threatening manner.

_ “Just give in, we will get your powers! We will rid of you and make our king happy!” _ The man says with an evil chuckle, the person underneath him still writhing in pain.

Minseok realizes with a gasp that he’s been stabbed already, and that’s where all the blood is coming from.

_ “I will never, ever, give in to him! He won’t be able to kill me and take my rightful place, that piece of shit!”  _ he spits on the man with the dagger’s face.

That’s how Minseok realizes, this is Prince Luhan, getting tortured by the King’s Men by the king’s orders most likely.

The yells of agony the prince lets out when all the men step on him and kick him makes Minseok’s heart ache.

He wakes up with a jolt, heart beating rapidly.

_ The dream was probably happening in real time,  _ he muses quietly. On the other hand, he’s still not so sure about this whole ordeal since the dream felt like a badly written drama.

It’s already sunrise, he notes and wakes Chen and Baekhyun up to tell them  _ they don’t have time, if they don’t reach the prince in time he’ll die from his injuries! _

“We need a healer,” Baekhyun says, looking at Chen.

Chen nods and they set out the find the best healer in the entire kingdom, one of the higher faeries named Yixing.

Thankfully, where they were hiding in the forest is not that far away from where Yixing lives at from what Chen tells them.

Apparently Yixing prefers the quietness of the outskirts of the village, finding it better to live in a small house near the forest.

They find him after thirty minutes of fast walking, and they don’t see any guards trying to catch them but Minseok knows this is all the easy parts.

The hard part starts with convincing Yixing to go with them to heal the prince.

Yixing lets them in easily enough, prepares tea for them and doesn't even ask why they are there. He looks quite tired but still has a charming grin, made even more handsome by his small dimple.

After his second cup of tea, Baekhyun turns to the faerie with tired eyes, eyes shining with determination in case Yixing doesn't comply.

“First of all, we want you to heal Chen. He's had this cold for weeks now and it's starting to worry me!”

Yixing doesn't even bat an eye at the ‘command’ coming from the younger boy, instead he just sets down his cup of tea and leans forward on his seat to raise his eyebrows curiously at Chen.

Chen, looking very panicked, tries to intervene.

“That's really not necessary Baek, I'm fine!”

“No you're not, you couldn't breathe today,” If possible, Yixing's eyebrows go even higher on his forehead at this. “What kind of cold is this?!” 

“I'd like to take a look at Chen if he lets me, what do you say Mr. Chen?” The healer asks with a indifferent voice.

Minseok senses uncertainty in Chen's eyes. But it's gone as the youngest sneaks a glance at Baekhyun and walks with Yixing to a small room, probably made for patients of him.

Minseok and Baekhyun wait. It gets pretty boring after a while, talking strategies about how to get Luhan out from the castle and what to do after.

Then, Minseok remembers to ask the questions on his mind.

“Hey Baekhyun?”

“Yes?”

“Won't my parents notice that I've been gone for two days now? What if I go back to my town surrounded by police, all looking for me?”

“I'm really not a specialist on these kinds of things but I'm sure it will be fine.”

“Okay.

So the prince's representative flower is cherry blossom, right?”

“Yes.”

“How is he not dead all the time?”

“What the hell do you mean, Minseok ?!”

“I mean… cherry blossoms only bloom in April, and that's for about two weeks. How does it happen with the prince?”

Baekhyun looks puzzled.

“The prince is the one keeping the cherry blossoms alive, Minseok. They are tied to each other.” he finally answers.

“But that doesn't make sense, aren't so many faeries dying because their flowers are dying?”

“Yes, in the prince's case it is the same. They keep each other alive.”

“But-”

The door opens before he can keep asking, Chen and Yixing come out from it.

Minseok can't help but notice that Chen looks really pale but Baekhyun doesn't seem to think so. He rushes to Chen's side exclaiming about how he looks better already 

Meanwhile Yixing sits down next to Minseok with a knowing look on his face.

“So you want me to come with you to save the Cherry Blossom Prince?”

“Um.. yes.” Minseok answers quietly, still not sure how he feels about the prince’s nickname. 

_ They really couldn’t find a little more original name? _

“I will come with you. I'd love to see you two become a lovely couple!” with that, Yixing smiles brightly, getting Minseok confused.

_ What couple? Why would I be a couple with the prince? _

But even while he is thinking that, his heart flutters at the thought and he remembers the weird guy from his dream.

He's shaken off his thoughts by Chen grabbing his arm and telling him they are leaving, that they have a lot of walking to do.

The sky is still the “lovely” grey color as it was before, the only difference now is the storm clouds shrouding the sun from the view.

They run for a while after rain starts, then hide in a bakery, waiting for the sky to calm down.

During the journey, Minseok learns that Yixing is close friends with the Lord of the Wind, Sehun and Baekhyun and Chen have been friends since childhood, growing up together in the castle.

Apparently, Baekhyun is a servant's  son while Chen is of a lord.

Also, Baekhyun admires the prince a lot, so much that for a long while (filled with Yixing nodding the whole time and Chen rolling his eyes and scoffing every two sentences) all he talks about is how Luhan is all that and how he is so great and blablabla...

For some reason, deep somewhere in his heart, Minseok can relate completely to Chen's jealousy. For some reason, he doesn't like to think about how “Prince Luhan was best friends” with Baekhyun.

He keeps seeing the image of the prince bleeding to death in his mind, which makes his own body hurt all over as if Minseok was the one who is stabbed.

It makes him wonder if this is the “bond” Baekhyun and Chen were talking about.

Something else is that the prince reminds him of the guy in his dream. He doesn’t want to tell his new friends about the dream but… maybe he should.

Could the prince be the guy in his dream? He can’t remember his name…

  


Two days after they convince Yixing to come with them, they decide it’s time to get into the castle.

Minseok will get in from the back door the maids use, find a window to get the others in undetected, Yixing and Chen will come in while Baekhyun stands outside to guard them.

Minseok doesn’t really know the extent of their powers but since Chen assured him that they won’t randomly throw flower petals everywhere, he guesses he will trust them.

He can’t wait to get to the prince, but a part of him is also rightfully terrified. What if the guards kill them?

Chen doesn’t really seem to be okay either, didn’t Yixing heal his cold?

There’s something fishy about him that Minseok (and most probably Baekhyun) doesn’t know…

  


Twenty minutes before their operation starts, Chen, all of a sudden, throws himself onto the ground and thrashes wildly, trying to breathe.

Baekhyun isn’t around since he’s trying to find out where the guards most come from and Minseok isn’t really sure if this is a good idea even though Chen and Yixing both tell him it’s for the best.

He just doesn’t want to die, is that so bad?

“Be careful near the front of the castle… That is inevitably the place the guards are roaming around the most and the stairs leading to the dungeons are also very close to there.” Baekhyun informs them after he comes back, “He doesn’t need to know,” Chen says.

Minseok enters from the backdoor and thanks his skills of hide and seek from when he was a child because there is a guard right next to him as he steps inside the kitchen.

He manages to go unnoticed, whether from his “non-existent smell” or because the guard thought he was one of the people that worked in the kitchen.

The kitchen is really busy so, to his utmost surprise, no one actually sees him leave there and he finds a window far from where some guards are sitting around, laughing loudly.

Minseok manages to recognize one of them as the one with the knife to the prince’s neck, he swallows his fury and lets Chen and Yixing in, shooting a small smile at Baekhyun who looks just as nervous.

They quickly go downstairs to the dungeons, and there are so many people in cells. It’s sickening to see some of their condition.

Minseok tries not to let the pained whimpers and moans of faeries all around get to his head and focuses on finding the prince’s cell. He notices Yixing looking just as pained as the abused prisoners, his hands are twitching probably to run and heal them.

“This is the Prince we’re talking about, surely his cell is way more protected than… all of this.” 

Chen has a disgusted expression on his face that Minseok doesn’t like so much.

That’s when he really starts doubting him.

The signs are there, Chen never really liked it when they (especially Baekhyun) talked and admired the prince, Chen seems sick of this whole operation, Chen is just… extremely suspicious to Minseok’s eyes.

Silently, Minseok wonders if he’s a spy that will give them away to the guards and laugh at their misery as they are tortured. Still, he walks through all the cells in his lead, his worry about the prince’s wellbeing keeping him on the edge.

  
  


They find him unguarded.

He’s propped against the wall, his head tilted backwards and arms limp. They all panic when they see that the prince is unconscious.

Minseok rushes forward, grabbing the bars of the cell’s door and forcing it to open. Yixing immediately starts a chant and Minseok notices from the side that his hands are glowing white.

Chen pushes him away from the door and Minseok is so scared that Chen is going to do something, reveal them and call the guards, he screams.

Yixing’s concentration breaks and he sees Luhan jump up, gasping really loudly.

After a moment of shocked staring, Chen and Minseok also realize that Luhan is suddenly conscious again and Chen rushes forward, gathering magic in his hands and throwing it to the lock.

Minseok tries to calm himself as the lock breaks and Chen and Yixing run in to aid the prince.

Luhan’s eyes widen in muted terror at seeing Chen but he instantly relaxes after seeing Yixing smiling down at him, his glowing hands over his stomach area, and mutters “You came to save me.” gratefully.

As Yixing explains that he’ll heal Luhan completely and they will be able to get out in a short while, the prince and his friend are looking at each other, unreadable emotions in their eyes.

“Jo-” Luhan starts but Chen cuts him off loudly, nearly yelling about the king being such an asshole, breaking Minseok out of his stupor.

He steps into the cell, eyes instantly locking with those of the prince’s.

Then, he gets a vision.

  
  


_ He’s standing in front of a particular coffee shop, hands in his pockets. He thinks he’s waiting for someone.  _

_ His body feels older, heavier somehow and he guesses that whatever this is he’s experiencing, takes place in the future. _

_ “Hey.” _

_ A hand holding a cup of coffee appears in front of his face, the owner of the said hand smiling and raising one of his eyebrows, prompting him to take it. _

_ Minseok smiles despite of himself and takes the cup of coffee, tasting it to see that it’s an Americano, his favorite. _

_ The person, who’s features clear in his head to reveal himself to be Luhan, drapes an arm over his shoulder and sighs, both of them just looking up at the sky that is threatening to rain for a long while.   _

_ Luhan speaks up. _

_ “You know what, Minseok?” he whispers, still looking at the sky. _

_ “What?” Minseok turns his head to the taller man in curiosity. They are close, so close that he can see all of Luhan’s wrinkles on the corner of his eyes and mouth -all there from laughing- very clearly.  _

_ “I’m so grateful I have you.  _

_ I love you.”  _

_ Luhan says those and looks at him with love in his eyes and even though Minseok is aware this is just a dream -a vision- it feels so real, his smile is so warm and his gaze is so intense Minseok can’t help but be awed by the sheer beauty of the man before him. _

_ He smiles and leans his head on Luhan’s shoulder, suddenly feeling extremely at peace. _

_ “I’m grateful to have you too and..” he hesitates “...I love you too.” _

The vision ends, Minseok loses his balance and nearly falls if not for Chen holding his wrist at the lost moment. 

He clears his head and looks at Luhan once again, finding the prince looking right back at him, just as he had been before the vision hit.

“What happened there? You blanked out for a second.” Chen asks seriously to which Minseok only shakes his head at and tells Yixing to hurry up.

Luhan is fully healed but the wound does still hurt a bit, so Yixing and Minseok take each of his arms and get him out of the cell.

They make their way upstairs with Chen on the lead but not before the prince does his duty:

“People of Primavera, I swear on my life that I will defeat these dark magic users and bring peace even if it kills me.”

Minseok notices Chen rolling his eyes but doesn’t comment on it, though it does set him a bit on the edge once again.

They carefully get to the window they came in and the men aren’t there anymore, Minseok gets worried.

From what he understands of Yixing’s expression, he’s worried as well but Chen seems to be very relaxed, even making jokes to the prince as if they were the oldest of friends. 

Which they were, according to Baekhyun’s story but Luhan’s face doesn’t really scream  _ “BFFs since birth!”  _ when he’s looking at Chen.

They get out silently and Baekhyun greets them with an excited yell of “Prince Lu Han!”

Everything happens so fast.

Minseok’s eyes open in terror as Chen rushes to Baekhyun to close his mouth by putting his hand over it while Luhan jumps and drags him and Yixing to somewhere far away as the guards start to run towards them.

Minseok vaguely sees Chen grab Baekhyun by the arm and drag him with as he starts running with them.

Thankfully, they manage to get far away from the guards and all but throw themselves onto the ground after finding a spot hidden from the eyes enough.

The guards are still there though, and everyone holds their breaths as they come closer.

“I can’t see them anywhere, they must’ve escaped.”

“You may be right but…” the second man hesitates, Minseok holds his breath even more as Yixing and Chen exchange worried glances.

“...I’m pretty sure I saw Master Jongdae here.” the man finishes.

Baekhyun lets out a shriek, not able to stop himself and the men’s heads snap towards the shrill sound as Luhan looks at a frozen Chen, shocked. Then he breaks out of it and pushes Baekhyun to Minseok,

“You guys go, I’ll handle it.” he says calmly as he turns his back to the rest of them, extending his arms towards the men and his hands start to glow green.

Luhan and Yixing nod and Luhan makes a head gesture at Minseok and Baekhyun, telling to let’s go but Baekhyun panickedly yells back.

“Chen, no!”

The men start firing and Minseok tries to guard himself and Baekhyun. Before any of the bullets hit them, though, a bright green barrier appears around them, obviously Chen’s doing. It keeps the guards distracted enough that they can escape deeper into the forest.

Chen grits his teeth, trying to hold the barrier. 

“Baekhyun, just go!” 

“BUT-”

“I’ll find you guys later!”

Luhan and Yixing are still waiting and Minseok holds out a hand for Baekhyun to take, not really sure of anything at seeing his teary-eyed face.

Chen notices and his face gets softer, he mutters a “Trust me Baekhyun.” before Baekhyun nods and says he trusts him too.

_ Chen is so powerful, surely he’ll get back to us, _ Minseok tries to comfort everyone by saying while they run away from the village.

It’s only after they are far away enough not to see Chen that he gives in, slumping his shoulders first and then falling to the ground, breathless.

  
  


It feels strangely like a dejavu to Minseok as their group consisting of a human, a prince, a powerful healer and a...uh...a faerie try to find their way back to the outskirts of the village as night falls. Just a few days before he, with Chen and Baekhyun, were coming from there to save the prince, the journey filled with fun facts and jokes.

Now they’re all in a somber mood as they trek through the forest, the only thing they hear being the crunching of leaves under their feet and Baekhyun’s occasional sniffling that hadn’t stopped since they had left Chen by himself by the castle.

Luhan leads the way, and even though Minseok has no idea just how a recently prisoner prince is going to find Chen’s house he didn’t even use before all the mess happened, he doesn’t say anything.

Finally Yixing gets tired from the aggressive and fast steps the prince is taking and suggests that they just rest under a nearby tree for the night.

Baekhyun and Minseok agree quietly and Luhan exhales loudly in frustration before going all the way to the nearest tree and plopping down in front of it, immediately flinching as the wound on his stomach hurts.

Yixing rushes to see if there’s anything majorly wrong, and Minseok, although worried, turns to Baekhyun instead.

“Baek, Chen will be okay” he tells the younger boy gently and tries to seem calm. Even though he’s anything but calm.

He feels terrible for ever doubting Chen. It just looks like the prince and him weren’t really getting along well anymore and Minseok decides to ask Luhan about it if they...ever actually talk.

Somehow, the thought of getting closer with Luhan gives him the wrong ideas and he gulps, not noticing Baekhyun’s eyes welling up with tears once again.

“I screwed up! I was too excited and- and-” he yells and then breaks into sobs, getting the attention of Minseok and Luhan and Yixing, who were having a conversation.

Minseok leans forward and hugs Baekhyun, both of them in a state where they need comfort. Especially Baekhyun.

They stand like that for a while until Minseok pulls back and tells the golden-eyed faerie that  _ it’s not his fault, they were going to be found out sooner or later anyways, Chen would be okay. _

It’s only after Luhan comes up to them and puts a supporting hand on his friend’s shoulder that Baekhyun relaxes a little, and he runs like a little kid to Yixing’s outstretched arms, glowing waiting for Baekhyun to calm him.

Minseok looks at them hugging and smiling, suddenly feeling calmer himself and this time Luhan puts a hand on his shoulder.

He turns to the prince questioningly, only for the smile on his face to freeze as he realizes just how close they are.

Luhan doesn’t do anything really drastic though, just pulls the shorter boy closer to himself and leans down, putting his head on Minseok's shoulder.

Minseok stands stiffly for a few seconds. His stomach burns like it does whenever he gets nervous. It’s a weird feeling, he wonders if this is how people feel about their crushes.

_ Wait? Crushes? _

_ No. NO, NO , NO. _

His eyes open wide and Luhan takes his arms from where they’re hanging limply, wrapping them around his waist and snuggles closer. While they are still standing. Minseok is aware Baekhyun and Yixing are simply just watching them, Yixing’s giggles long died down and tightens his arms around Luhan.

  


Morning comes and it’s still silent between everyone. Minseok’s been caught gazing at Luhan ever since he woke up and yet Luhan can’t do anything more than smile shyly since he himself has been looking at Minseok non-stop.

Yixing seems to sense the weird atmosphere so he turns to Baekhyun.

“So , uh, I’ve been thinking about this one thing I heard since yesterday.”

Baekhyun looks up curiously, urging Yixing the go on.

“Well, I noticed you guys got pretty nervous when that one guard mentioned a name like ‘Master Jongdae’ and I wanted to ask why.”

Minseok leans in, interested in hearing the answer and observes as Baekhyun glances at Luhan worriedly, who turns his back towards them and picks up a twig to play with.

“Um- Uh, Jongdae , huh..” Baekhyun trails off, chuckling nervously.

Yixing’s gaze is piercing enough to send chills down Minseok’s spine so he pinches Baekhyun to continue.

“-Ouch! Oh, well, it’s really nothing - he’s just one of the high ranked men in the castle! At least, from what I remember.” He says hurriedly, adding the last part a little after thinking for a while.

Minseok leans back and crawls towards Luhan, satisfied with the answer. 

For some reason, Minseok’s been feeling a strong pull from the prince, especially after the hug they shared the night before.

Luhan greets him with a small smile, not raising his head but still scooting closer to him.

Of course, Minseok has questions of his own.

"Prince Lu Han?" he tentatively asks, hand reached out to touch the blond man's arm.

"Just call me Luhan and yes?"

Minseok fidgets uncomfortably in his place and leans closer to Luhan, their arms touching.

"I wanted to ask some...things," he says in a voice only Luhan can hear, unknowingly causing the prince's heartbeat to rise. He clears his throat and quickly adds

"Only if you have time for me of course."

"I'll always have time for you and um,ahem- go ahead and ask whatever you want please," 

Minseok takes a deep breath and looks at the prince, just noticing how beautiful he actually is.

_ Silky honey blond hair, delicate face features and startlingly bright purple eyes. An innocent and bright smile that can warm your heart instantly _ , he thinks dreamily.

_ Ew, what? _

He shakes his head and hides the sour expression on his face, quickly replacing it with a neutral expression instead.

He tries to gather the words in his head, gulping. He isn't really sure about how to ask this, he doesn't even think it's the right time and place for it.

But…

Some other things suddenly start to come together in his mind. Minseok is aware Luhan is waiting for him to ask whatever he wants to ask, the prince is obviously an impatient person.

Still, Minseok focuses on his newfound discovery.

_ The only dream I remember having with Luhan in it is right before I came to Primavera. _

_ Ever since then, every thought I've had of him or (since yesterday) anytime we make eye contact makes me have fluttering things in my stomach and shyness. And then… _

_ And then what,  _ Minseok frowns.

“Hey, are you there?”

Luhan’s hand in front of his face startles Minseok. He leans his head back and coughs nervously when he notices Luhan’s face is just as close to his face as his hand is.

“Yeah yeah, I’m sorry I spaced out a little bit.”

Luhan raises an eyebrow.

“Okay? You were going to ask me something, human?” he says casually.

_ That again? _

“Hmm...You know Luhan, I have a name.”

“I know that.”

“It’s Minseok,” he points out, trying to not lose his coolness.

“I know that too?” Luhan is a little puzzled.

“Well then, why won’t you address me as such?” Minseok really doesn’t know where the formal language came from.

Luhan looks down at the ground and ponders for a while. Finally, after what felt like an hour he looks at Minseok again and apologizes.

"It's alright I just have some...concerns about what's happening," He searches for a reaction from the prince on his face but finds none, so he decides to continue. At this point, Baekhyun and Yixing also come and settle down near them, either trying to see some relationship confessions (as Baekhyun ridiculously whispers in his ear) or really eager to hear what Minseok is concerned about, as Yixing tells him with a gentle smile.

"Firstly, I've seen a lot in the week I've been here but I still have trouble believing this is real."

Luhan nods indifferently. "As expected."

"Secondly, I want to know what actually I am needed for? I mean, all I've done is sneak you into the castle and even you could do that. None of this stuff makes sense to me and I just want to go home!"

Baekhyun's mouth opens in shock while Yixing nods as if he understands.

"Well there must've been a reason why, and not just the  _ prophecy  _ or whatever, I don't believe in it anyways." Luhan retorts hotly, nose wrinkled and clearly frustrated.

It just helps to annoy Minseok more.

"What kind of faeries are you? You don't even have wings!" He fires back, he's thought about it and it was the winds that brought him here, it didn't let him go back once he was in and closed the gate…

Baekhyun and Yixing gasp, offended while Luhan just gets red in the face.

"Just because you can't see the wings doesn't mean they are not there! Flying spreads a lot of magical energy around so we try not to do it, not while the King's men are after everyone in the kingdom," Baekhyun says sharply.

All of a sudden,Luhan jumps to his feet and takes Minseok's arm, dragging him up too.

"What are you doing?!" 

"If you want to go,go. Find Sehun and he'll let you leave. I don't know why you're here either, so just leave!

Minseok sighs angrily. 

"I'm not leaving."

"And why is that?"

"Just because you told me to leave!"

"Didn't you want to go home?!"

Baekhyun and Yixing just watch their fight, heads turning to the person that is yelling each time someone speaks.

After a while of unnecessary and stupid fight, Yixing tries to intervene.

"Guys- stop fighting," he says in a loud voice, taking Luhan by the arms and dragging him back from where he was standing with his fists raised at Minseok.

"Thank you, I don't really like fist fights," Baekhyun mutters,head down.

Minseok also brings his fists down and shrugs.

"We need to find Chen."

"We? If you mean us excluding you,then yes, we but-hmmgh??" Yixing shuts him up with a hand to his mouth.

Baekhyun stands up and shakes the leaves off his pants, excited and worried about Chen simultaneously.

"Let's go, he still hasn't come back and we wasted enough time already!" 

They start walking back to where they came from, Prince Lu Han in the lead talking to Baekhyun and Minseok at the far back by himself, trying to be as far away from Luhan as possible.

Going back to where they came from isn't really a good idea but there is a big chance that instead of searching mindlessly, Chen opted to stay somewhere close to the castle after getting rid of the men. Or that's what Baekhyun thinks.

Not long after they start walking, Yixing asks Luhan how he's feeling and will he be able to fight.

Minseok doesn't really understand just how one prince can defeat a bunch of dark magic wielders just with his flower abilities but he doesn't say anything, deciding to just roll his eyes when Luhan yells that he'll go down fighting dutifully.

_ Maybe that's why Chen doesn't really like the prince too, he's really annoying. _

The Luhan in his dreams or the Luhan that hugged and smiled at him last night weren't so like that, so Minseok wonders if he's judging too quickly.

Even if they're mad at each other, their "bond" feels even stronger in his heart. 

He doesn't like it. He still has no idea why he's here.

He has no idea why Yixing is still here either, but he doesn't comment on it.

They reach somewhere close enough to the castle that they can see the gardens sometime in the evening, after that they start being more cautious.

"Maybe we should split up to look for him," Luhan says warily,eyes darting around the place they are in.

"I don't have any magical abilities to save me if someone tries to kill me."

It's obvious that Luhan wants to say something but he bites it back and stays quiet.

"Well then we can split into pairs. Me and Baekhyun can go together and he'll cover for me since I don't have any abilities beyond healing myself and Prince Lu Han and Minseok can go together," Yixing suggests calmly, planning like a true leader. Not like Luhan at all.

So that's a lie, Luhan is a great leader but Minseok is not going to give it to him, if he wants to be stubborn then Minseok will be more stubborn.

Luhan accepts the idea grudgingly, Minseok not even fighting because he knows he's useless and wouldn't like to die.

They split and walk the opposite directions, thankfully Luhan can sense Baekhyun and Yixing's magical energies so they're able to call for help if needed.

It's silent between them and Minseok knows one of them will give in and apologize. Probably Luhan since he likes talking a lot.

It's weird, Minseok has known the prince for only two  days yet he feels like they spent their life together. His emotions keep conflicting,one part of him questioning why he's staying with them while the other part doesn't want leave the prince's side.

It's weird. Is it affection? How can it be affection?

"Stop." Luhan orders out of the blue, causing Minseok to actually stop in his tracks.

"What?" He asks, annoyed even before Luhan starts talking.

It gets dark in Primavera very quickly so he can't see what exactly is the face Luhan is making but he thinks it's a shameful look, the young prince leaning his weight from one leg to another constantly and playing with his fingers. All signs of discomfort.

Minseok knows an apology is coming so he crosses his arms on his chest and waits. It takes a while for Luhan to get the words out, the tall boy is quite prideful and not used to apologizing after all.

"Erm...Uh.."

Minseok keeps waiting, a little amused. So maybe the prince is hot-headed, it's endearing.

_ Oh here comes the conflicting emotions again,  _ he thinks sourly.

"Go on Luhan, no one's going to judge you for something as normal as apologizing."

Luhan glares at him, feeling teased. Minseok only giggles in response. His face softens.

"Really, take your time with it. I know you're not used to it so I'll just go first. I owe you an apology too."

It's true, he shouldn't have gotten mad so quickly.

"No, no, you were right! I understand your concerns and I understand that ever since you got here you've been very confused. I'm sorry," Luhan says hurriedly, eyes wide and looking the part of sad puppy.

Or maybe a deer in his case, he has a VERY long neck and pretty doe eyes.

_ I wonder would it be rude if I told him that? _

Thinking of Luhan's looks make Minseok blush so he hides his face and hopes the prince didn't see the reds on his cheeks.

"Yes I've been very confused. I accept your apology. Is it okay if I ask you questions?" The short boy rushes his words, turning his back to the handsome prince.

"Wow you ask a lot of questions!" Luhan says, his cute grin apparent in his voice.

He gets no answer.

"Okay too soon? Of course you can ask me questions. I swear I'll hold my temper this time," 

A slight turn of Minseok's head shows him that Luhan has his hands up in front of him, indicating that he really isn't going to get mad so easily.

It's cute.

"Alright I'll ask you whenever then, let's go!" 

He turns back to the right direction and starts walking, leaving Luhan behind, chuckling and shaking his head.

"It's just been a minute since he forgave me but his cuteness is going to be the death of me," the young prince mumbles, eyes twinkling.

"Are you not coming?!"

"I'm coming of course!"

  
  


They walk for a long time, chatting about this and that.

Does the faerie world have any sports? (They are not so different than the human world - Prince Lu Han loves soccer!) 

What is Minseok’s favorite drink? (Coffee) What’s coffee? (...Uhh, you know soccer but not coffee?)

“Um, Luhan? Can I ask one more thing?” Minseok asks almost shyly, looking at Luhan who’s beside him nervously, eyes downcast.

Luhan chuckles.  _  It’s a nice sound, _ Minseok thinks.

“Anytime. Ask away!”

“What’s the deal between you and Chen?”

Luhan’s posture stiffens and Minseok worries if he was too blunt. Then his shoulders sag, he sighs and stops, taking the shorter boy by the hand and leading him to sit on a big stone right after.

“It’s a long story and yes, you should know about it too.

I actually am not so sure myself why it happened but I’ll tell you,”

This gets Minseok confused and he makes a face that makes Luhan laugh.

“So you must know by now that Baekhyun, Chen and I are childhood friends,” at the dark haired boy’s nod he continues.

“We are childhood friends. Baekhyun and Chen lived in the castle with us, Baekhyun being born in the castle because his parents are our workers. For Chen, he and his older brother lived with us because their parents -very influential people and our distant relatives- unfortunately died in an accidental fire when Chen was three years old.

Hmm, sad story. So my mother, the queen insisted that they live with us and Chen and I became fast friends.

I was a shy child, and even though he was younger than me he brought the playful person inside me. I wasn’t let out the castle much and after a couple years, he started spending all his days outside.

Of course, I was sad. I can’t say that I ever felt him being as close to me as before, after he ditched me to play all day in the gardens with Baekhyun.

I did meet Baekhyun after I snuck out one day, and I am close with him but...as we got older, whenever I was with them, I’d feel left out.

Chen loves Baekhyun a lot and Baekhyun the same. There’s no room for me. So yeah, that’s it.”

While this was all true, it looked like there was more.

Luhan keeps turning his head away, averting his eyes whenever he turns to Minseok and fidgeting.

“Are you sure-”

A beam of light lighting up the sky from their north cuts him off. The two boys jump to their feet.

“Yixing?!” Luhan exclaims.

Minseok panics.  _ What if they got caught? What if something happened to someone? _

"We need to go right now! Something must've happened!" comes the just as worried voice of the taller boy, his hand wrapping itself around Minseok's wrist and dragging him forward to go.

Minseok tries to calm his heart down and stops the prince.

"Yes, we should but surely we aren't going to walk there, right? This is an emergency situation."

"We'll run, of course."

At Minseok's disbelieving stare he only grows more impatient and annoyed.

"What else do you suggest?"

Minseok takes a deep breath to not get affected by the way Luhan is staring at him, making him weirdly attracted even in a situation like this. He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs.

"Well, Baekhyun mentioned before that even if you don't have wings or something you can still fly but you don't because of reasons blah blah… So let's just do that!" He says rushedly, getting more and more panicked as they waste their time here.

Luhan freezes where he is, looking utterly terrified at the mention of flying. Which confuses Minseok a little, he's a faerie and surely this should come naturally to him, right?

"...We can't fly," Luhan draws in a sharp breath then moves his mouth as if he's going to say something more. Whatever it is, he decides not to say it and shakes his head, grabs Minseok's wrist, turns around and starts running.

“Wait-”

Minseok’s words die in his mouth when he’s forcefully dragged by the prince across the field.

He wonders if this running at incredibly fast paces thing is a faerie thing, because it feels just as annoying and nauseating as the time Baekhyun and Chen grabbed his arms and dragged him the whole way to Chen's house.

_ I've been getting dragged ever since I came here… _

He can't really see anything because they are running so fast, and when Luhan abruptly stops, Minseok topples over to the ground right on his face. Luhan turns around, looking around to see if Yixing and Baekhyun are near and notices him on the ground. He laughs, not even a little breathless.

"Are you alright?" He says as he extends his hand at the fallen boy, who glares at him and takes his hand. 

Minseok gets up with Luhan's help and adjusts his clothes, Luhan also patting his shoulder a few times to silk off dirt. Together they trudge on and try to find Yixing, Baekhyun or...Chen.

There could be so many reasons Yixing sent them that beam, and frankly, Minseok can't help but think that something is very wrong. 

When they finally catch a glimpse of two people on the ground and one waiting over them, Minseok holds his breath and Luhan stops in his tracks as they register what they are seeing.

First of all, someone, someone that looks a lot like Chen, is laying on the ground with his head to the side and arms limp, Baekhyun's slim arms wrapped around him, the short faerie crying and mumbling apologies to the presumably dead body.

Luhan exhales shakily at the sight and Yixing, who's standing over Chen and Baekhyun with teary eyes, flashes him a look of pity and sadness.

Minseok doesn't want to believe, because even though he should've expected it, everything has been such an extraordinary dream- no, nightmare- ever since he came in so he really didn't…

"I...I never thought…" He can't finish the sentence as his legs buckle under him and he falls to his knees in a shock. Luhan doesn't spare him a look and rushes forward to the boys on the ground, tears springing from his eyes.

"No...Jongdae…" He mutters as his shaking hands come up to Chen's face  _ (did Luhan call him something else or did Minseok hear wrong?) . _ Baekhyun looks at him through the tears in his eyes.

"We- we found him like this. He was already dead, no blood around which made me question if it wasn't a power blast or even a sword that ki-"

"Stop it!" Baekhyun yells at Yixing, who steps forward and kneels next to him, trying to calm him down with silent words of comfort.

Luhan falls to his knees and Minseok starts sobbing. Truly, he had his moments where he didn't trust Chen one bit but he still considered the younger faerie a powerful and good friend.

There is another thing on his mind though.

"What did you mean when you called him Jongdae,and not Chen?" He manages to speak through his sobs.

Baekhyun just wails more and Luhan's head snaps towards Minseok, while Yixing turns to the two thoughtfully.

"Yeah...The men called him that too, when were trying to get away from the palace...You had said Jongdae was just one of the high ranked men in the palace!" He exclaims.

Minseok notices Luhan shaking, suddenly looking paler as if remembering bad memories. Then he shakes his head and gets up from the ground, stepping away a little and muttering a silent prayer and goodbye to his old friend.

Yixing tries to coax Baekhyun into leaving Chen's body as if understanding what Luhan is about to do. Minseok is aware too. It seems that Baekhyun also knows, and won't let go of his dear one's hands.

"No- Heal him! I know you can! Let me go!" 

"Baekhyun you know I can't… Please don't make this so difficult..."

"No! You don't understand, he- he didn't know how much I loved him...All along he thought he didn't matter to me," At this point Baekhyun looks crazy, as if the thought of Chen not mattering to him is something so insane. "I would never- how could he think that?" He covers his face with his hands and starts crying even harder.

It's true, it makes sense. It's not hidden hate or anything else Chen feels for Luhan, it's jealousy. Just like how Minseok was jealous of Baekhyun being close to Luhan, Chen was also jealous. It makes perfect sense.

Minseok drags a hand down his face and looks at the prince who's trying his best to look strong. He silently goes over to Baekhyun who gives his farewell and pulls him away from Chen, Yixing immediately gets up to take his place next to Luhan, both of them extending their hands towards Chen's… _ dead body, _ Minseok accepts.

As he and Baekhyun watch on in pain, Luhan and Yixing chant something together and the body on the ground disappears, a dozen of green flowers blooming where it had been.

_ Those must be chrysanthemums,  _ Minseok thinks.

The chanting ends and Yixing opens his eyes.

"I'll tell you guys what I know. Then I'll take my leave."

All three of them snap their heads towards Yixing at once.

"What do you mean leave?!" Minseok asks a little angrily. Yixing raises an eyebrow.

"I mean exactly what you meant when you wanted to leave."

Luhan looks at him. 

"Explain."

Everyone sits down on the ground. Maybe this isn't the best place to do this, especially since they are so close to the palace but no one cares at this point. They just lost a friend, leave them alone.

"When Baekhyun, Chen and Minseok first came to me I did an examination on Chen to figure out his sickness because it seemed too complicated to be just a cold. As I have healing powers and am trained to be a doctor, it didn't take long before my magic told me that Chen had poison in his blood,"

Baekhyun and Minseok gasp simultaneously while Luhan's jaw drops but he doesn't make a sound.

"I told him that I could cure him but he didn't accept. I'm sorry, I don't know the kind or the reason he has the poison he just told me that he didn't deserve to be cured after what he'd done which is...something else I have no idea about."

"He betrayed us." 

Minseok and Yixing's heads promptly turn to Baekhyun just as he utters the words.

"What do you mean?"

"The prince was captured because Chen… well, his real name is Jongdae, lured him to those...torturers. After that, I learned that Jongdae became the king's," he speaks with distaste, "best man or something like that."

"Yes, but we all knew that," Luhan speaks up

_ No,no we didn't _

"The real question and surprise was when he came to rescue me. How did he turn?"

It's obvious that Baekhyun is hesitating a little at his prince's heated stares. Minseok himself would be a little scared if he was in the position but to be honest, he's just as mad. So he really has been traveling with a traitor for days! Not only that, but he regarded him as a friend!

If he thinks deeper about it, Minseok can understand some of the dislike Chen… no, Jongdae has towards Luhan. The prince had mentioned that he was shy but now you can see just how brash and hot headed he can be by just spending a few hours with him. Also there is the thing with Baekhyun… Well, jealousy can be quite destructive.

None of those matter as an excuse though because in the end, a friend is a friend. Jongdae was someone Luhan trusted with his life but he broke that trust. Yes, he realized his mistake. 

"That doesn't really matter, does it? The important thing is that he realized what he did was… wrong and he turned back." Yixing challenges Luhan.

That gets the prince mad too, hence his next words.

"Why are you still here anyway?! I thought you were 'gonna leave?!"

Minseok sighs in exhaustion and hides his face in his hands as Yixing stands up with a glare and leaves. And doesn't come back.

They sit there for another two hours. In those two hours, Prince Lu Han has had exactly five random bursts of anger that they ignored.  It's completely dark by now and Baekhyun is silent, looking at the green flowers. Minseok is looking at Luhan, who has his head between his knees.

"Luhan, why the hell are you so weird?"

The words tumble out of his lips suddenly. He covers his mouth as soon as he says it but Luhan has heard him so of course he raises his head to glare at Minseok.

"What do you mean!"

He rolls his eyes.

"You get annoyed at everything and try to make us leave even though we're the ones trying to help you, we all put up with you only for you to yell or scream or roll your eyes at us. 

Me? I have no idea what I'm doing here. Yes, I still want to leave. I don't know what it is that I am feeling for you but I know that after all this I don't appreciate it. Maybe in an alternate universe, it could happen." He finishes, breathing heavily. He doesn't know how the topic turned from Luhan to his feelings but he's glad he's let that all out. He also pities Baekhyun. 

Luhan looks shell-shocked before his face falls and he sighs.

"You're right… I've been saying that I'll defeat my father and what not but I actually have no idea how… I think I'll just give up," Baekhyun's eyes raise at Luhan. "You shouldn't be here. It's gonna get dangerous… Baekhyun, could you please summon the winds for our human friend? He should've never been here."

Even though it's all true, Minseok still can't help but be shocked and stiff even when Baekhyun quietly gets up and starts dragging him off to somewhere. Minseok looks over his shoulder at the prince still remaining sitting on the ground, he's smiling a little, bitter smile. It looks charming even in their state. Shame.

They don't make it far enough (so close Minseok's slightly myopic eyes can still see Luhan perfectly good) before Baekhyun is shot in the chest with a glowing icicle. Minseok yells, Luhan rushes towards him and stands in front of him as Baekhyun falls to the ground, his hands over his bloodied chest and easily gives his last breath, eyes open.

The attacker grins maliciously, stepping away to let a man of average height dressed in dark colored obnoxious clothes, a light blue ball of magic in his right hand ready to blast at the prince. Minseok can barely make out the things Luhan is yelling, his ears gone deaf from shock. He manages to register the words  _ father, fucking bastard  _ and  _ king _ and decides this is it, this is Luhan's crazy father and we're both going to die.

Well, as it turns out Luhan was serious in his words at giving up because to Minseok's utter astonishment,he stupidly drops his shoulders and looks up at the sky, saying some things that make the winds act up. 

As the winds get stronger they start to pull Minseok away, even though he does his best to hold onto the prince and yet it's no use because Luhan just gives him the same sad smile he gave only minutes ago and  _ kneels _ before his father while Minseok gets further and further away from him.

Eventually the winds drop him off on the ground in a familiar place Minseok doesn't care to figure out. He lies on the ground, looking up at the colorless sky blankly.  

A guy arrives. He's wearing a grey robe and looks particularly disturbed - at what, Minseok doesn't know. He doesn't know anything. 

"Well hello there Kim Minseok, do you know who I am?" The guy has a quiet voice and pink hair. Pink. Not bright pink, but pastel pink. He looks twelve. 

"Are you a random kid?"

"NO, if you must know I'm 140 years old!" 

_ Huh. _

"That's nice."

The 140 years old guy sighs exasperatedly and looks at the sky as if praying for Minseok to be a little more interactive. He sighs again, turning his head to Minseok.

"Luhan called me to get you back home you know, I heard all about what happened. I'm sorry Jongdae and Baekhyun died… I'm sorry I brought you here in the first place. My friend - he takes care of things about the time and future and stuff around here- had told me of the prince meeting his soulmate in the near future but I couldn't see how that was possible while he was captured okay! So I tried the take matters into my own hands but maybe I shouldn't have meddled with time after all…" He rambles on and on, looking genuinely sorry.

But sorry doesn't cut it for ruining someone's life. And no, he isn't exaggerating in the least.

"Are you kidding me? You're telling me you were the one that brought me here and fucked my emotions up. Are you for real? People died when maybe they weren't supposed to because of you!" The wind guy has the decency to look ashamed. 

"Alternate timelines exist! My friend already gave me an earful about it and told me he won't speak to me for a whole century so can we stop?" The guy pouts and suddenly Minseok isn't sure if he is actually ashamed because, dude, what the hell? Then another horrifying thought comes to him.

"Wait! Were you the one that sent me all those vision things about Luhan too?"

"No, but that is part of the reason why I thought this would be the right time to bring you here, because it meant you two would be meeting soon anyways."

"How great. Thanks for screwing with my head."

"I'm telling you it wasn't me! Now let me take you back and you'll forget this all happened." The guy - he still doesn't know his name- brings out a dark pendant from his robe's pockets and grins.

"This is going to take you back to when you first wandered off towards the garden, Tao gave it so I could bring you back safely!" 

"I don't know who that is and I don't care. Just tell me if Luhan is alright."

Mr. Pink Hair looks perturbed for a second before focusing on something blankly and his face falls.

"I'm sorry… he was my friend too." He says quietly and it's all it takes for Minseok to snatch the pendant from Ugly Grey Robes and wait for him to do his magic so he can get out of here. He just wants to forget everything about this place.

The wind guy steps back and stretches his hands towards the ground, doing some weird movements and opening up a glowing white portal. He gives a sad smile and presses something on the pendant in Minseok's hands and gestures for him to jump in as the pendant glows purple.

Minseok throws the pendant in first, which results in the portal changing its colors to a dark purple and looks at the Lord of the Winds, whom he now remembers being mentioned as named Sehun. Sehun sneezes and tells him to be quick. He jumps in.

  
  


He opens his eyes in his room. He doesn't remember how he got there, the last thing he remembers is seeing a pretty garden and trying to enter it. Maybe the owners found him and beat him up, but he doesn't feel any pain.

"Hey!" 

He turns his head to find his cousin Junmyeon at his desk, writing something down in his notebook he carries with him everywhere. 

"Hey… what are you doing here? What happened to me?" 

Junmyeon raises his eyebrows. "Your mom called me to ask where you were because apparently you had been out for two hours and didn't pick up your phone. I found you in an alley, you were unconscious. I brought you back here with the help of my friend - you know the kid that transferred over at the start of the semester that I'm partners with. You're pretty heavy by the way, at some point we were having such a hard time looking stupid while carrying you two kids came and laughed at us." He grumbles.

Minseok glares at him. "Well I don't remember what happened so…"

Junmyeon shrugs and picks up his notebook, getting up and walking over to the door. 

"See you at school on Monday!" He waves too.

"Yeah, see you…"

He spends his weekend just lying around in his bed or sitting in the backyard, looking at the flowers for therapy because his mother is convinced that he's tired from studying so much and he fainted from all the stress. She even offers for him to take Monday off but Minseok doesn't accept. He also finds out that his flower allergy is somehow gone, which is weird. Heh. Maybe he was abducted to a place where they took his allergy away and that’s why he fainted.

Everything goes okay until lunch on Monday. He gets a text from Junmyeon telling him to meet him outside after school ends because they are going to see the cherry blossoms together with his friend. He inwardly groans and complains as he eats his lunch.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to make new friends or anything, it’s just hard for him to. He’s awkward around people, especially if those people are people that he doesn’t know that helped carry him home while he was unconscious.

Regardless, he arrives right on time to see Junmyeon talking to a guy taller than him before spotting Minseok and waving him over. Groan. He’s very pretty too. And somehow familiar…

The new guy doesn’t ask why he’s squinting so closely at him but extends his hand and exclaims cheerily.

“Hello I am Lu Han and you must be Kim Minseok! Nice to meet you!”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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